Up the Walls
by captaindishwasher
Summary: My take on a modern HTTYD! Hiccup is many things. An artist, an engineer, a millionaire's son, and socially awkward. One thing he isn't, though, is a member or the Vikings; an illegal street racing group that has the answer to all his problems.
1. Graffiti

_Hope? What hope? Hope is ignorance. It's your ignorance that made me the boy who's standing here before you. If you don't like what you see, then don't look. One day you'll learn to open your eyes and admit that you only have yourself to blame._

Dark, heavy clouds rolled in, casting a shadow on the over populated city of Berk, blocking out the moon's soft glow and covering the stars that scattered across the sky in thick, swollen blankets. It was only a matter of time before they began to pour down over the metropolis.

And in a matter of time, they did.

Rain poured in buckets, coating the isolated streets with water almost at once. Half running, half stumbling down a puddled sidewalk that glowed with neon streetlights, was a smarter than average, smaller than average, teenaged boy with messy auburn hair and a sarcastic sense of humour. "Oh, lovely. Rain! Just what I needed." he barked to himself, pulling his green and white checkered hood over his head. The boy was out tonight to get revenge. His idea of revenge was vandalism. His idea of vandalism was graffiti. "I'd better make this quick, then."

Graffiti was a hobby of his, and he felt that he could proudly say that it was something he was good at. He could easily loose himself in the colours and designs, spending hour upon hour covering the streets with them. However, keeping to his own property and places he was given permission to coat with multi coloured spray paint was something he was not so good at. He slowed down as he crossed the road and stopped all together at a tall barbed fence standing between him and the train line. He threw himself at the tracks perimetre, pulling himself up and then seconds later, tumbling down the other side.

Being the clumsy boy he was, he didn't land with what one would call style. Rather, he landed with a splash, face first in a nice big puddle. If he wasn't completely soaked before, he certainly was now. Grumbling, he climbed to his feet, wiping what mud he could from his jeans as he did so. After looking around to see if there was anyone around who might've seen him, he continued along the tracks, now running through shadows as opposed to streetlights.

It wasn't long before he reached his destination; the back of a tall brick building, with nothing but a few windows for decoration. This particular structure, one of many large companies owned by his father, was his new canvas. The young artist was relatively lucky it was a windy night, as the rain was blown towards the office from the front, leaving the back almost completely dry. With a smirk plastered to his cheeks, he unzipped his backpack. He rummaged through it and pulled out a red bandanna, which he tied it around his neck quite loosely, and a large waterproof flashlight that he often used while working in the dark. Setting his bag in the grass next to the torch, the boy took a small piece of chalk from his pocket. It was quite wet, and fell apart a little as he held it. Regardless, he took the chalk to the wall, and began to sketch out a design that had been in his head for some time now.

It took a few goes to get it right, but once was happy with the sketch, the teenager stood back to examine his work in progress, arms crossed over his chest. "Time for paint." He couldn't help but to grin as he fixed his bandanna around the lower half of his face. Pushing his wet hair out of his eyes, he picked out the dark blue spray paint from his bag and shook it back and forth before holding it up to the bricks. The tin gave off a soft hiss as the paint hit the wall. "Hiccup!" But the hissing lasted for only a moment. The boy jumped around, startled, nearly dropping the can.

"I thought that was you," a tall, muscular boy with dark hair and expensive clothing stepped into the torch's light.

"Snotlout! I uh, um! What are you doing here?" Hiccup stumbled over his words, a little shocked that he'd been caught.

"I saw you climb over the fence, Useless. Wanted to know what you were up to." Snotlout was Hiccup's cousin, older by four years.

"Well now you know. Goodbye!" The smaller boy turned his back to the other, holding the can to the wall once again. Snotlout put his hand on his little cousin's shoulder and pulled him around so his back was now to the wall.

"Dude, you're soaked. You're gonna catch a cold or something. I'm taking you home, this can wait."

"You brought your car? How the hell did I miss that thing?" Snotlout shrugged. "Thanks for the offer," Hiccup added, "But I'm not going home." He spat rather quickly. He turned his back to his cousin, yet again, holding the can up to the wall for the third time and began to spray. Even a fool like Snotout could tell he wasn't in the most fantastic of moods. He knew that once Hiccup had made up his mind, there was no changing it, so he didn't bother trying.

"I see." The dark haired boy sat down, leaning against the wall just out of the light. "You tell me when you're finished, Useless, and I'll give you a lift back to my place." he suggested, pulling his leather jacket over his mouth to block out the paints fumes.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that."

A little less than an hour later, Hiccup stood proudly, hands on his hips admiring his now finished graffiti. On the wall, covering at least two square meters, in dark blue block-writing, smothered in electric-blue flames was the word "Nightfury". Above that was a picture of a fierce black dragon with glowing green eyes, leaping through the flames. Snotlout stood behind him, an expression nothing short of amazement glued to his face. He was impressed.

"Like it?"

"You amaze me, Useless. You forgot his teeth." Hiccup rolled his eyes, packing his belongings back into his bag. "I didn't forget them, they're retractable."

"...Right."

By now it had stopped raining, and the two were on their way back to the car. There was complete silence, with the exception of their shoes squelching in the mud and a police car's siren singing a few blocks down.

"...I sure hope it's not you they're after," Snotlout joked. "What were you and your old man fighting about, anyway?" There was a moment or two where Hiccup paused, before he opened his mouth to give an answer. Snotlout had by now gotten used to the fact that if Hiccup was avoiding home, it was almost always because of an argument with his dad.

"Mum."

"Oh yeah?" Almost a year ago, Hiccup's parents had gone through a horrible divorce, after being married only a few years short of twenty. He'd taken it hard, and didn't like to talk about it. His mum was kicked out of the house, and now rented a cheap apartment on the sleazy side of town. "Are you planning on running away for long?" The younger boy threw his bag over the fence that they had previously climbed over, before pulling himself up and over, this time landing on his feet. Snotlout did the same.

Hiccup forced a smile.

"Yeah. For a month or two, at least. That's why I have only one change of clothes and a bag full of paint with me."


	2. Cars

_If I were stronger, would you be proud of me? If I spoke less, would you listen to me? If I stopped dreaming, would you dream with me? Would you love me? Would you be proud to call me your son? I'm sorry Dad, I let you down, but you expect too much from me. Not everyone can be as perfect as you._

Hiccup sure wasn't over exaggerating about Snotlout's car. It was a metallic red Ford Mustang with a sleek yet at the same time, blocky body that drove insanely close to the ground. Both sides were painted with fluorescent orange flames. The inside of the car was glowing with soft red lights that shone down from the ceiling. Hiccup had, of course designed and painted the Ford almost completely himself, and had even made the fluffy red seat covers. Yes, graffiti was a hobby, but for years Hiccup had spent most of his time with his dad's friend Gobber, slowly but surely becoming a highly skilled engineer.

The boys paced, both soaked and dripping with water, across the road to the fiery red monster of a ride. As Snotlout unlocked, Hiccup examined his ghostly reflection in one of the Mustangs tinted windows. His expression was nothing short of miserable and his wet hair stuck to his forehead, adding to his gloomy appearance. "Useless, catch!" He looked up in time to cop a towel in the face. "Dry off before you get in, unless you want to make me some new seat covers." Hiccup looked at the towel and smiled half-heartedly. Probably been rotting in the boot, he thought. Reminding himself that he was cold, wet, and in need of a lift, he shrugged and started to dry off, messing his already messy hair up with the slightly smelly towel.

No more than five minutes later, the two of them were speeding 90km down a 70km street. The smaller of the two had his nose pressed to the window, watching the reflection of the car flicker like a flame as they passed the large tinted windows of various buildings. He proudly admitted, just quietly, that the site before him was quite impressive, as the painted flames looked almost like they were dancing, and the cars expensive silver rims lit up like disco balls as they were hit with the neon street lights. "I just gotta drop into the garage for a bit," Snotlout said, half to himself as he reached over and turned off the heater. The car had warmed up by now and the two of them, although still wet, were a lot more comfortable. Hiccup gave a grunt in response, not really minding. He had some work to do there anyway.

Except for the growling of the Mustangs engine and the slight crackling of the wheels over the wet tarmac, the city was fairly quiet. At 2:23 in the morning, it usually was. For Hiccup, Berk was all he knew, having lived there his whole life, he knew the streets inside out. Snotlout turned on some Birds of Tokyo as they drove out from the jungle of skyscrapers and into the suburbs. Hiccup could see his himself and his father's five story, five million dollar mansion at the top of a big hill overlooking the rest of the city. It was not only the biggest house on the block, but by far the biggest in Berk, perhaps even the whole country. From what Hiccup could see, all of the lights were off, except of course the lights of his dad's room. Stoick was much like an owl; unless working the next day, he was up late writing and replying to business mail. "Does he know you're gone?" Snotlout shouted over the music. Hiccup turned it off all together before replying.

"Probably not." Snotlout laughed.

"Of course he doesn't. I'm guessing you don't want to swing by to pick up some clothes on the way?" Hiccup shook his head without a second's hesitation. "Well I trust your wallet has plenty of cash to last you, then. My guess is you'll be gone a while."

"Yes, 'Lout. I know you don't have any, but there is such thing as common sense."

They pulled up out the front of an old brick building with layers of graffiti covering its old brick walls. Above two roller doors, was a sign that read, "Gobber's Garage" graffitied in fancy yellow block writing. Without turning off the engine, Snotlout got out of his car and unlocked one of the doors with a key he'd almost forgotten he had. "Be a good little cousin and see if Gobber's still up while I take the car in." Hiccup rolled his eyes, a groan escaping his chapped lips. He didn't like to take orders from his cousin, but did what he was told nonetheless. He walked into the dark, cluttered building, stepping over boxes of old and new car parts. He reached the door that up lead into the house and went through, turning on the lights as he passed them. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness.

"Gobber!" He knocked on the man's bedroom door. "Gobber," He knocked again.

"Hiccup, what are ye doing here? We're closed." He spun around in a moment and found his nose up against the chest a tall, bulky blonde man with a handlebar moustache.

"Gobber! Uh, I was just looking for you!" He stuttered.

"At three o'clock in the mornin'?"

"Yeah, um…" his voice trailed off as Snotlout walked in, looking rather unamused. Gobber turned to him and grinned.

"Snotlout! What can I do for ye m'boy? Although Hiccup was the apprentice, Snotlout was the stronger, smarter, better looking older cousin. No one minded him waking them up at unruly hours of the morning even if it was just for a quick "Hi, how are you?". He was the favourite.

Hiccup decided he wasn't interested in whatever Snotlout had to say and rolled his eyes before tiredly carrying himself back down the hall and into the garage. While the two older men stood around talking about the multiple problems 'Lout was having with his car on one side of the workshop, Hiccup put himself to work on the other, less organised side.

Almost completely hidden amongst a mess of paper, boxes and rusty tools, was a car that put Snotlout's to shame. It was a dark blue Audi R8 that he'd bought about a month ago. He'd been making improvements such us giving it stonger tyers, a more powerful engine etc. and now only had the paintwork to do until he could call it finished. While digging out a large cardboard stencil he made during his last visit, he tuned in and out of the other's conversation.

"I take it ye getting 'er ready for The Vikings, then." Gobber said, giving Lout's car an oil change. The Vikings was an illegal street-racing group that Snotlout proudly called himself a member of.

"You're not wrong." Hiccup would've loved to be part of the group, but he had a few minor problems. One being he didn't get along too great with some of the members. They actually, really didn't like him.

"I've got what you might call an unfair advantage over the other contestants. I'm going home with the big money this year. I'm sure of it." Snotlout was a winner, but that didn't mean he got there the hard way. Hiccup knew all of his tricks, but was too afraid to dob him in, and he knew that Gobber too, wouldn't dream of it. He pulled his bandanna back over his mouth and picked out a can of electric blue spray paint, waiting for a pause in the discussion before spraying the stencils design onto the side of the car.

"Leave it a surprise aye? I don't wanna know what yer up to just yet."

Hiccup had always admired the many different designs of lightning bolts, but he'd never been a fan of drawing them. For some reason, this time he quite liked the way this these ones had turned out. He smiled, admiring the way they splattered down both sides of the car, gradually fading into the dark blue painted on the layer beneath.

"Looking good, kiddo. Too much blue, though. I think a more girlish colour like pink or purple would've done you magic, but." Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Gee, thanks 'Lout," He pushed his cousin's hand off his shoulder. "I'll make sure to remember that for future reference. Are we going now? I'm tired."

"Yes, we're going. You'll have to sleep on the couch though." Hiccup's jaw dropped in protest. "Aw don't cry. Would you prefer the floor?"

Hiccup sighed and rubbed his heavy eyelids.

"Actually, the couch sounds great."


End file.
